Their Generation
by Buttface Emdot
Summary: The time will come when the little students of Xavier's School have to prove themselves ready to live in a world divided. And that time is now. Completely movieverse, post X-2, and introducing original Marvel X-Men not yet featured in the movies...plus
1. The Invite

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. You know.

**Quick Note: **This is post-X2. I have very little knowledge of the comic series but I_ will_ be introducing mutants from them not seen in the movies. Not yet, anyway. And of course, one original character. Must flex artistic muscles, you see.

_Bampf._

"Kurt, you have to stop doing that. You don't want to scare the poor thing away." Storm took her companion's arm and they stepped warily into the dark alley.

"What kind is this one?" Kurt whispered.

"Don't know."

"Is it a boy or girl?"

"Don't know."

"Adult or child?"

"Don't know."

Kurt blinked at her. "Then what do we know?"

"We know he or she is a mutant wandering for days all alone in a particularly nasty part of the city." Storm answered, keeping her eyes scanning. They didn't know yet what this mutant was capable of. "And that's all we need to know. Do you see anything?"

Kurt squinted through the darkness. Storm couldn't help but smile at how timid he seemed, being on his first "real" mission. The Professor had sensed this new mutant and Storm was the usual volunteer for "the invitation". Unfortunately, this was their first "invite" since the Alkali Lake incident three months before, and Storm's former partner was gone.

"I see nothing." Kurt murmured. "Are you sure the mutant is here?"

"Positive." Storm said. "The Professor pinpointed exactly here."

"But I see noth – "

_Crash!_

Behind them to their left the rusty ladder of a fire escape came crashing down into the dumpster below it. They rushed over and peered into the dumpster. Nothing.

"The ladder is rusty, it my have just broken." Kurt said, pointing at it. Storm took the ladder and inspected it. The bit of twisted metal that held the ladder to the fire escape was still far too thick to have been torn away by just gravity. It needed some added weight.

"Perhaps we should contact the Professor? Ask him again where we must look?" Kurt suggested.

But Storm was still looking into the dumpster. Then, in a burst of insight, Storm reached into the empty dumpster and poked.

A young boy yelped.

Kurt nearly teleported in surprise. "What was that!"

Storm smiled softly. "Invisible."

The boy knew he was caught. There was no escaping the white-haired woman and her creepy blue friend. Her creepy blue friend who could appear out of nowhere. Apparating. Well, that's what they called it in _Harry Potter_, anyway.

Still, he wasn't ready to show himself. For reasons unknown to him, he remained invisible, knowing full well it was stupid and they knew he was there anyway. Maybe he could just curl into a tight ball and disappear like the apparating blue guy.

"Sweetie, we're here to help you." The white-haired woman spoke softly. The boy recognized the tone as the kind used to soothe crazy people at the mental hospital. While this wasn't exactly flattering to think about, it occurred to him that this lady wasn't out to hurt him or anything. Still, he remained silent.

The blue guy, who was scary enough just being blue, stepped into a stray beam of light from a street lamp. This brought his scariness to an entirely new level of scary. His face! His ears! His hands! His _tail_!

He cowered. The two strangers looked curiously at each other, but the woman realized.

"That's Kurt. He wouldn't hurt a fly." The woman whispered. Kurt heard and looked slightly discouraged as he stepped out of the light. The boy instantly regretted fearing him. The blue…man's expressions were very human.

"And my name is Ororo Munroe, but you can call me Storm. Whatever you like." She smiled encouragingly.

"In the Munich circus I was called the Amazing Nightcrawler." Kurt added helpfully. Storm smiled as if it was some kind of inside joke.

Munich. Yeah, the blue guy definitely sounded European. German or something.

"We're just like you…" Storm said softly.

What was that supposed to mean?

"I'm sure you saw Kurt's power." She waved at him and Kurt disappeared. _Bampf._ He reappeared on Storm's other side. "And mine…"

Storm stepped back from the dumpster and spread her arms. The boy watched in awe and fear as her eyes clouded into a perfect white. A swift, biting wind swept down the alley. Impossible…

A crack of thunder. Bolt of lightning. The boy looked out from the alley and saw that a few feet away, the skies were still clear, the moonlight filtered through only a few clouds. He looked up at the sky above him and saw the rain clouds gather.

"Want some rain?" Storm asked with a smile. A few second later a few drops of drizzle trickled down onto him. Then, in an instant, the clouds cleared.

Storm's regular eyes returned to normal.

Holy crap. This lady controls the weather.

And that guy could apparate.

All of a sudden he didn't feel like he was being confronted by creepy strangers. It was stupid to let his guard, just because they had powers like him didn't mean anything…but still…

Kurt leaned close to him, his horrifying face turned up into a warm, inviting smile. "So what's your name?"

He looked at Kurt, then at Storm. He took a deep breath.

"Kevin."

He sounded young. Very young, in fact. Storm was overjoyed that they had gotten him to speak. This may be the easiest invitation yet. Besides Kurt, Wolverine and Rogue were the last ones, and while Rogue wasn't especially difficult (the hardships were mostly Magneto's fault), Logan was more than a handful.

"Can you become…visible, Kevin?" Storm asked softly.

"Yeah…but…" the boy hesitated.

"But…?"

"I'm not, uh, wearing anything…"

He wasn't able to make his clothing invisible too, apparently. Storm looked at Kurt and he nodded. _Bampf._

"Kurt's gone to get you some clothing from our jet."

"Your jet?" They had a jet?

"Yes, you see, we're from a sch - "

_Bampf._

Kurt appeared, holding a small hooded sweater and a rather large pair of what appeared to be Logan's X-Men uniform pants. Kevin wrinkled his nose, not at fashion choice, but the smell of brimstone that quickly spread through the alley.

"It was all I could find." Kurt said sheepishly. Storm nodded her thanks and passed the clothes to Kevin, who took them. They couldn't get over the strangeness of the clothing floating in the air like that.

Then he began to appear.

Storm and Kurt looked at each other in surprise. They were both thinking the same thing. The way he appeared, bits of nothingness turning over like loose scales to form pale human skin, was alarmingly similar to the changing effect of Mystique.

This thought was forgotten, however, and the boy fully appeared, still standing in the dumpster. He grabbed the edge and climbed over, his bare feet splashing in the small puddle Storm had formed earlier with her display.

Kevin was tiny. He was barely five feet tall and very skinny. His tousled brown hair wasn't long, but sticking up as if in effort to make him look taller. The small blue sweater was loose on him and the tight leather pants of Logan were being clutched up to his chest. He peered up at them through scared blue eyes that looked way too experienced in stress that his age should have allowed.

"How old are you?" Storm said squatting lower to be at eye-level.

"Thirteen."

Kurt could not hide his surprise. The boy looked no older than ten. Storm, however, put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

"The perfect age."

"For what?" Kevin asked timidly.

"To attend our school."

Kevin stared out the window. This was his first time ever on an airplane, and this was some ride. It wasn't just a regular airplane like people at school go on, this was a jet. An X-jet, which he guessed meant it was special. The lights from houses below him sped by so fast they all melded into one long streaming of light. Kevin wondered how fast this thing was going. He wasn't pushed back into his seat or anything, so he definitely didn't feel any of the speed. Or maybe it was just the really uncomfortable seatbelts Ms. Munroe had buckled him with. There were like, a billion straps to fiddle with.

"He's thirteen years old, professor. He should fit in nicely with the other eighth graders."

He knew Ms. Munroe was talking about him on the little intercom thing. She and Kurt had grilled him with questions before he got on the plane. Where he was from, why he was alone, where did he live now. They had frowned sympathetically at his answers "here", "my dad's sick", and "back in that alley".

Kevin sensed they wanted him to elaborate, so he did. His mother had died so long ago he had no idea who she was, and his father had made a point to never talk about her. He heard from the old lady, his former babysitter, that his father had gone completely insane at losing her, so much that Kevin had to be transferred to a foster home as a baby for several months. After he pulled himself together, it was always just him and his father, as long as Kevin could remember. Until about two years ago, when his father got his new job. He would leave at weird hours at night and return in the morning to greet him, acting like he hadn't just left his only son all alone at night in their little apartment in Jersey City. Whenever Kevin would ask what his new job was, his father would shrug it off with a "I'll tell you when you're older, sport.". But as his father got more and more into his mystery job, he got quieter, more isolated, and far more snippy with his son. He had never hurt him though, until that one time, less than seven days ago.

_"Dad…?" Kevin asked, obviously frightened. His father took no notice as he sat at the table, furiously scribbling on several papers, all stamped at the heading with the letters "F.O.H."_

_"What is it, sport? I'm busy." He grumbled._

_"It's important…" Kevin squeaked._

_"All right!" His father slammed his pen down on the table angrily and swiveled vehemently toward his son. "What the hell do you want, sport!"_

_"I-I was in the bathroom…and I was thinking about how the kids at school make fun of me sometimes…"_

_"Stand up for yourself, damn it! Now if that's all, Kev, I really have to do something right now." His father started to turn back toward his work._

_"Dad."_

_"WHAT!" he turned back toward his son and nearly fell out of his chair. "What the – "_

_Standing before him, where his son once stood, was clothes. Just clothes. The clothes Kevin had been wearing, only Kevin wasn't there. Floating clothes._

_"Kevin!" he yelled and shot out of his chair, afraid to touch the clothes. "Kevin where the hell – ?"_

_"I'm right here, Dad." Kevin raised his hand and his father watched in horror as Kevin's long sleeved shirt rose by itself. "I-I was wishing I could become invisible…and then I did!" Kevin reappeared suddenly, back in his clothes. He had a tentative smile on his face, as if he expected his father to be proud._

_"No…not…no…" his father murmured, grasping the table for support._

_"Dad…?" _

_"You…you….your mother…!" he ignored Kevin, and instead stared down at his papers._

_"Dad? What happened Dad? What about mom?" _

_"YOURE ONE OF THEM!" his father exploded, overturning the entire table and scattering his work papers everywhere. They floated back down, and an alarmed Kevin caught sight of the tiny print below the stamped F.O.H. Friends of – _

_"STOP IT! STOP DOING THAT!" his father roared. Kevin fell back against the wall._

_"What? What!"_

_"SHOW YOURSELF, damn it!" his father grabbed his sleeve so roughly Kevin was sure he was bruised. When he looked down to check, he saw that his arm was invisible._

_"I-I didn't mean to!" Kevin stammered. "Y-you scared me!"_

_"I SAID SHOW YOUR FUCKING SELF, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" _

_Kevin wasn't even sure he was visible yet, but at that moment the old lady from next door shouted through the door._

_"I-I don't know what you're doing to your son in there M-mr. Reed, but I've called the police!"_

_"BITCH!" he fumed, and he threw Kevin back at the wall. "You, you little bastard, stay the fuck away from me. Filthy mutated monster!"_

_"D-dad!" Kevin sobbed._

_"YOU'RE NOT MY SON!" Mr. Reed roared. "YOU'RE NOT MY SON. I DON'T HAVE A SON, NOR DID I EVER HAVE A WIFE! I NEVER HAD THIS FUCKING FILTHY LITTLE FAMILY!"_

_Kevin stared through moist eyes. Where was all that coming from? About his mother?_

_"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LIED TO ME!"_

_Just then they heard sirens. Kevin got up and ran to his room, locking the door behind him. His father sprinted after him, holding a kitchen knife._

_"Get back here! GET BACK HERE! I'll SHOW you your fucking mother!"_

_In all his confusion Kevin actually considered opening the door. Then the knife slammed through the thin wood and he opted not to. He backed himself up into the corner of the room, catching sight of himself in his mirror. He was invisible. Hastily, Kevin stripped off his clothes, shoved them into the closet, and sat in the corner, leaving no sign of his existence._

_He listened as the old lady next door explained to the police about the yell she heard, and the crashing. As they handcuffed his father, now raving completely random things that didn't seem to make any sense. As the dragged him away. As they opened the door and looked in, searching for him. After a full fifteen minute search of his tiny room they concluded that he must have jumped from his window, over the alley, and onto the next building, making his way down. He would soon be classified as a runaway. They never noticed the near inaudible sniffles of the naked boy in the corner._

_Later that night Kevin bravely stepped out of the room, feeling very strange walking around naked, and made his way out of his apartment. He had to step over the police tape. Several policemen were still around, questioning the other tenants. He knew they wouldn't see him as he softly padded down the stairs. There, while no one was looking, he slipped into a police car. _

_He needed to see his father._

_The cop arrived soon and gunned his engine, not noticing the slight contour of his backseat were Kevin was sitting. He hummed as he drove and Kevin waited patiently to be taken to the police station where his father was sure to be. To his surprise, the cop did not turn the street to the station. Instead, he kept going straight and soon Kevin found himself at St. Thomas's Mental Care Institute of New York._

_What was he doing there?_

_He quietly followed the cop into the obscenely white building. Kevin blanched at the whiteness of everything. If they weren't already insane Kevin was sure they would become insane after being here in all the white for so long. He shivered as several patients wobbled by. He was sure some of them saw him, as they laughed mindlessly and pointed at the empty space in his general area. Nurses kept them under control as they stood in line for their meds._

_"Harrison Reed." The cop told the receptionist. Kevin's head shot up. His father._

_"Room 301"_

_He followed the cop into the elevator and to the room, still very aware that he was stark naked, and paused at the door. His hesitation caused him to miss his chance as the cop shut the door behind him. Kevin mentally berated himself and pressed his ear up to the door._

_" – relapsing again." He heard a female voice say._

_"Again?" the cop asked._

_"It's happened before. Twelve years ago, actually. His wife was found brutally murdered in their kitchen. Mr. Reed was found hugging the bloody body. Apparently she had been torn to shreds by a kitchen knife."_

_Kevin froze, his heart skipping at least twenty beats._

_"And he went crazy then, too?"_

_"Very. They had to take his baby son away for nearly a year."_

_"Did they find out who did it?"_

_"No. Never. Mr. Reed never saw the murderer. The only piece of evidence we could find was a fingerprint-less kitchen knife. It was done right there in their kitchen. Mr. Reed was raving nonsense about mutants, but it was obvious this was done by a regular human."_

_Mutant? Was that what he was? Kevin listened some more._

_"We couldn't find his son." The cop said. "We think he might have ran away after his father broke down and tried to attack him."_

_The nurse paused thoughtfully. "I wonder what broke him down this time? Usually it takes a lot to get this kind of severe relapse."_

_Kevin bit his lip. It was him. Him and his – _

_"Mutation." The police said suddenly. "This guy was firmly against mutants. I saw papers all over the floor in his kitchen. They were plans. Plans on how to kill mutants. He was an active member of Friends of – "_

_Kevin didn't want to hear anymore. He ran, not caring that the slapping of his bare feet was echoing down the hall. Several patients, who of course did not see him, became alarmed and screamed, confusing the flustered nurses. Kevin didn't care. He ran._

_When he got back to his empty, disheveled apartment he ran straight into the bathroom and shut the door. He stared at himself, seeing nothing. Then gradually, his face began to appear. He tear-stained cheeks, his blood shot eyes. His arm reappeared, sporting an impressive bruise from earlier. Soon he was all there, all human. _

_No. Not human._

_He went to his room, grabbed his school back pack and overturned it, emptying it of all his schoolbooks. He ran to his closet and grabbed a few pieces of clothing, his drawing pad, and a few candy bars he had stocked there. Then he zipped it up. He picked out the clothes he was wearing that same day and put them back on. Then he did what the police thought he had already done, jumped out to the next building and ran away. Before he ran, however, he looked back into the window of his old room. It was still stuck in his door. _

_The large kitchen knife._

_Kevin ran._

"Kevin? Kevin!"

"Huh? What?" Kevin was shook out of his thoughts and found himself staring into the face of the "Amazing Nightcrawler".

"We are here."


	2. Birth of Inviso

**Quick Note:** Thanks for the reviews:)

"You're thirteen?" Jamie Madrox looked surprised. Kevin was getting a lot of that lately.

"Yeah." Kevin squirmed when he realized he had to look upwards to talk to his new roommate.

Jamie seemed nice enough. He was a tall, skinny boy who had a permanent goofy grin fused on underneath a mop of unruly hair and laughing blue eyes. Kevin knew the guy for just over an hour and he already sensed many detentions in his future.

But he had yet to know what his…"mutation" was.

He had spent the last two hours in a very serene, principal's-office-type room talking to Professor Xavier, the "bald guy in a wheel chair who can read minds and stuff". He taught English to the students himself. Kevin figured he was also the principal, though Ms. Munroe, Mr. Wagner (as he started to call the friendly "Amazing Nightcrawler"), and the other teachers never introduced him that way. He found out that Ms. Munroe was a science teacher, and Mr. Wagner was the newly appointed art teacher.

He had also met the math teacher, who was a brooding young man that leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. His name was Mr. Summers, and he always wore red shades, even when he was inside. Kevin guessed something was bothering him. When he was introduced, Mr. Summer's handshake was cold and unfeeling.

Then he met Mr. McCoy, a massive specimen of human being who was a new teacher, like Mr. Wagner. He was taking the place of a "Ms. Grey" who no longer worked there, though Kevin did not know why and he sensed this was a touchy topic. Mr. McCoy was teaching history.

Lastly, there was Logan. He had no last name, but he did hear "Wolverine" whispered throughout the halls. Mr. Wolverine wasn't really a teacher. Kevin wasn't sure what he was, or what he did, being far too old to be a student. He was big, hairy, and just as brooding and gloomy as Mr. Summers was, except Mr. Wolverine seemed a lot more threatening. Mr. Wolverine had peered down at Kevin and shook his hand firmly. He heard a clicking noise in his knuckles.

Mr. Wagner, who Kevin was starting to take a liking to, showed him to his new room where he would be staying. He never recalled ever agreeing to attend this school, or even agreeing to stay, but the adults seemed to already have it stuck in their minds that he was a student and he belonged there.

Since apparently they were "all like him".

"Come on you have to meet the other eighth graders." Jamie said brightly, and pulled him up. Kevin would have preferred to stay in the room, maybe get some sleep, but he left his single backpack on his bed and followed his roommate into the hall, where they crashed face-first into a huge metal cyborg.

"AHH!" Kevin yelped and jumped back roughly into Jamie.

Suddenly there were five Jamies, four clones of his roommate shooting out from the original. Each landed on the floor, rubbing their sore elbows.

"AHHH!" Kevin yelped again.

"What the hell?" the metal cyborg grunted. Then the metal plates covering his skin retracted into some unknown place and before him stood a regular dark haired guy, about seventeen, though heavily muscled.

"Hi, Piotr." The Jamies, plural, greeted. "I'm showing the new kid around."

Kevin gaped, open-mouthed at the five Jamies. "You….you…"

"Yeah, I forgot to mention." Jamie said sheepishly as his multiples merged back into one in a freakishly awe-inspiring display of weirdness. "That happens when I bump into stuff hard enough. I multiply."

Kevin was still open-mouthed as Jamie talked about his mutation like it was nothing more than a temporary rash.

"New kid?" Piotr asked looking down at Kevin. "You mean this floating shirt right here?"

Kevin realized he had made himself invisible unintentionally. He promptly reappeared. Piotr looked impressed while Jamie looked overjoyed.

"I know, it's awesome. Professor Wagner told me all about his mutation." Jamie exulted. "I bet you can even sneak into the !"

Piotr gave him a discouraging look, but Jamie just sneered at him. "Come on!"

"Where are you going?" Piotr asked the younger boy sternly.

"I'm just gonna let Kevin meet the other eighth graders." Jamie insisted. Piotr looked doubtful, but shrugged and started to walk away.

"Don't let Jamie do anything." Piotr warned over his shoulder. "Nice to meet you…?"

"Kevin."

"Don't listen to the Great Metallic Turd." Jamie said just loudly enough for Piotr to hear. He jokingly retaliated with a certain one-finger salute.

"He's a robot or something?" Kevin wondered. Jamie laughed.

"Nah, he just coats himself with metal sometimes. He thinks it's cool or something, calls himself Colossus. Tries to impress the girls with it."

They made their way down the carpeted hall, Jamie chattering away several warnings like don't surprise Logan while he's asleep or you will have three new holes in your chest and don't talk about Dr. Grey.

"What happened to her?" Kevin asked suddenly. Jamie looked at him darkly and he didn't pursue the matter any further.

They passed by the kitchen, where Kevin saw a tall blondish boy and a brown haired girl with white-streaked bangs laughing. They both looked about Piotr's age. The boy blew onto the girl's drink and it instantly cooled, fogging the glass. Kevin blinked.

"Bobby and Marie." Jamie whispered. "Bobby can freeze things, even just whatever particles are floating around in the air. And Marie, well, she has literally a Kiss of Death."

Kevin looked at the smiling girl. "What? She looks nice...?"

"Oh she is. It's just her mutation is whenever she makes skin-to-skin contact with someone she sucks out their powers." Jamie explained. "It's even worse for humans though. She sucks out their life force completely. She calls herself Rogue."

"Rogue?"

"Yeah, we all have our little mutant names. It's fun. Bobby's is Iceman." Jamie grinned. "They go out, you know. Date. I always wondered how they…"

"How they what?"

"You know."

"Huh?"

Jamie shook his head. "Never mind." He tugged Kevin along again.

As they walked, Kevin asked, "What's your mutant name?"

Jamie stopped and puffed out his chest. "Multiple Man!"

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Multiple Man?"

Evidently Jamie had expected more of a reaction to his brilliant mutant name. "Yeah, Multiple Man."

Suddenly someone pushed into Jamie, causing four more Jamies to come shooting out of him.

"Hey!" the Jamies glared. Behind them stood two girls, one a pretty girl of about sixteen and the other an Asian girl the same age with pink-streaked hair and insanely bright-colored clothes.

"Multiple Idiot is more like it." They loudly dressed girl joked.

"Kevin, meet Jub – "

" – ilee." Jubilee finished for him and she put out her hand. Kevin shook it, immediately wishing he had wiped his sweating hands before.

"Jubilation Lee." Jamie enunciated clearly, causing her to shoot him a dirty look. "And that's Kitty."

The brown haired girl waved. Jamie was one again and he turned to the girls. "If you'll excuse us ladies…"

"Please." Kitty rolled her eyes and pushed Jamie out of the way, causing him to multiply again. "You were in _our_ way, you turd."

"Like that matters to you." Jamie scoffed. Kevin wondered what he meant by that, until Kitty walked directly through each one of the Jamies. Kevin's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull.

"It's called phasing." Jubilee explained, snickering at Kevin's expression. "You better watch your back in the shower."

Kevin turned slightly green.

"She's just kidding, little dude." Kitty laughed, pulling along her friend. "See you later."

"Wanna go out?" Jamie called out to Jubilee as the walked away. Jubilee answered by tossing something in the air. It exploded into a burst of light right in Jamie's face. He looked at Kevin, his face covered in soot.

"I guess that was a no." Kevin said, smiling for the first time in a long time.

"She knows she wants me." Jamie insisted, wiping his face on his sleeve.

"I guess she thinks she's too old for you." Kevin suggested.

"Please. She's sixteen. Three years doesn't mean anything. Dr. Grey was a lot older than Professor Summers."

The two fell silent again at the mention of the mysterious Dr. Grey's name.

Soon they were standing outside a very loud room. Kevin shifted uneasily at meeting his peers. Would they accept him? From what he had seen in the hallways, it seemed like all the kids here were already really close. What if they didn't like him?

"You did it again." Jamie observed.

"What?"

"You're invisible. Do you do it when you're nervous or something?"

Kevin sheepishly forced himself to reappear. "I dunno, I guess so."

"It's still really cool." Jamie said as he pushed Kevin in front of him. They entered the loud room and everyone stopped. Kevin suddenly felt several eyes on him and he sweated.

"Dude, stop doing that. We're not going bite." Jamie said. "Well, actually Rob might, but he's got his shots."

"Shut up, Madrox." A Hispanic-looking boy his own age said. He nodded at Kevin. "Invisible huh? Awesome."

Kevin, to his exasperation, found he was invisible yet again and willed himself to reappear. He had to learn to control this power. Rob's eyebrows shot up. "He's thirteen?"

"Yeah, he gets that a lot." Jamie said what Kevin was thinking. He knew he was small, but come on!

"I think he's cute!" a pretty blond girl said from her place in front of the TV. "I'm Theresa."

"Theresa. Or Siryn." Jamie added. He leaned in to whisper in his ear. "She's a screamer." He winked.

Theresa glared and threw a pillow at him, but not hard enough for him to produce any more Jamies. "Asshole."

Kevin just stood and smiled nervously as Jamie introduced his classmates to him. Rob, aka Sunspot, a kid who gets his power from the sun. Theresa, Siryn, who can scream at alarmingly high decibels. Sam, or Cannonball, who was some kind of human rocket, though they didn't elaborate and Kevin was confused as to what that meant. Clarice, a quiet lavender-skinned girl with strange eye-markings, also called Blink for her ability to teleport things with the blink of her eyes. And Lorna "Polaris", a dark girl who could control metal things, apparently just like some guy called Magneto.

"There are only six people in our grade?" Kevin wondered.

"Seven, now." Sam corrected him. "Yeah, just us but we're expecting more. Especially after what the government might do with this Registration crap."

Kevin nodded, pretending he knew what the other boy was talking about. All he'd had to read the past few days were the dirty, unwanted pieces of outdated newspapers. "So how many kids go here?"

Sam shrugged. "Not too many. We don't have a lot of grade levels either. We mostly have the little ones." He pointed at a group of kids who looked about 8-11 years old. One set of twin girls giggled at another boy and ran directly into each other, merging into one complete person. Kevin's jaw dropped for what felt like the billionth time that day.

"Claudette and Nicole." Lorna spoke up. "They can fuse together. It's quite cool. When they're fused, we call them 'M'."

"Yeah. Those kids are the elementary-schoolers. They go to class together." Sam continued. "There are like, ten or fifteen of them." Kevin watched as the boy smirked at the twins, now one person, and a bony spike formed from his hand. The girl/girls shrieked in mock fright as the boy chased them, laughing.

"That's Spyke. Evan." Jamie said, looking up from his game of foosball with Rob. "Professor Munroe's nephew."

"And then there are the middle-schoolers. Us." Sam explained. "But we're all thirteen so we just call ourselves eighth graders. And you know, there are only seven of us."

"Yeah, we stick together." Jamie said.

"Then you've got the high schoolers." Sam rolled his eyes, giving his impression of high schoolers. "There's not many of them either. There's like…"

"Bobby, Rogue, Piotr, Kitty, Jubilee, Jean-Paul and Jeanne – "

"Who?" Kevin asked. He had heard of all of them except the last two.

"Jean-Paul and Jeanne are twins." Clarice said quietly for the first time. "Northstar and Aurora."

"They're both like, human projectiles." Jamie exulted. "It's so awesome."

"Jean-Paul is soo hot." Theresa sighed. "He makes me want to – "

"Cry in despair at his unfortunate gayness?" Rob suggested. This time all three girls, even Clarice, lobbed a throw pillow in his direction.

"Shut up." Theresa snarled.

"What? He is gay! Why can't you get over it?" Rob insisted.

"We can dream, can't we?"

Jamie elbowed Kevin slightly. "The girls have this plan were they think they can turn Jean-Paul straight. It's the saddest thing I ever saw."

"_You're_ the saddest thing I ever saw." Theresa growled.

"So they both have the same, um, mutation?" Kevin interrupted the potential nuclear war between Jamie and Theresa.

"Yeah, Jean-Paul is a speeding mass of sexy – " the boys groaned, " – and Jeanne is a little…well…"

"Nuts." Jamie supplied. "Looney. Off her rocker."

"Shut up, Jamie." Lorna warned. "She is not. She is just…"

"Nuts." Sam echoed. "Looney. Off her rocker."

"Unique." Lorna punched Sam in the shoulder.

"Oh hey, we forgot Gambit." Rob said suddenly. The room snickered.

"Who's Gambit?" Kevin asked.

"Remy. He's the oldest one and he's one got of those free-spirit things." Theresa said dreamily. "He's like, twenty, but he never stays in school long enough to complete it. He keeps leaving and coming back randomly. But Professor X lets him. I guess he's doing a little soul-searching or something."

"Yeah, he left over a year ago. Wonder when that dude's coming back?" Jamie wondered.

"He really cute too." Theresa giggled.

"Oh yeah, and Pyro. John." Sam added trying to not look disgusted by what Siryn had said.

The room shivered noticeably.

"Who?"

"John Allerdyce." Rob muttered darkly. "He's not here anymore though.

Kevin got the impression the subject of Pyro was right up there with the subject of Dr. Grey. He didn't ask.

"So that makes…what…?" Kevin broke the silence. "Less than thirty kids?"

Everyone nodded. "About that, yeah. There's sometimes more, some people don't like it enough to stay more than a year, or some people have parents that won't let them come back…"

"Why not? It's kind of cool here…" Kevin couldn't imagine a parent saying they didn't want their kids to go to school here. His classmates looked at one another.

"Do you remember how you got here?" Lorna asked.

"Something called the X-Jet."

The boys brightened and began asking him excitedly about what that was like, but Lorna glared them down.

"Ever wonder why a school would have a jet more advanced than anything that the U.S. Military has?" Lorna asked,

No. He hadn't. But it was occurring to him _now_. It was occurring the hell out of him.

What had he gotten himself in to?

Before he could say anything, Mr. Wolverine gruffly appeared at the door.

"Dinner."

_ BAMF!_

"Dinner time!" Mr. Wagner announced happily, ringing an old-fashioned triangle to herald the meal enthusiastically. "Hello Kevin!"

"H-hi….." Kevin stared at Mr. Wolverine, who had suddenly sprouted long metal claws from in between his knuckles. They looked strong enough to slice through a car door.

"Jesus, Elf." Mr. Wolverine grunted, clutching at his chest behind Mr. Wagner. "Scare a guy to death, why don't you!"

"_Entschuldigen_ - " Mr. Wagner began.

"Don't start with the German again." Mr. Wolverine held up a massive hand.

"Ah, excuse me."

* * *

Kevin took a seat between Jamie and Mr. Wagner at a table with his classmates and looked around at the cafeteria. It was a lot like the one at his old school, only much smaller. It had to accommodate fewer students, after all. And it had carpet. And it was far cleaner, with less fighting and yelling going on. The other table was occupied by who his new friends had called "the high school kids" and the rest of the three tables were taken by the little ones. Everyone knew each other, as Kevin watched Piotr reprimand Evan for spearing the table with a spike. Jamie would throw himselves, plural, at Jubilee until she would agree to go out with him. Rogue was turned to face his table, chatting with Lorna about something. It didn't seem like it mattered how old they were, or what mutation they had. It was all just one big happy family. Literally. 

"Students, can I – children, please quiet down." Everyone looked at the table in the middle of the room, where the teachers all sat. Professor Xavier was speaking.

"I'd like to introduce to you all Kevin Reed; he will be a middle-schooler here. I trust you'll give him a warm welcome."

Again everyone's eyes averted on him and he even felt himself disappear this time.

"He's shy." The plural Jamies clarified. No one seemed particularly surprised by the fact he could become invisible, but then again they were people who could fuse together, manipulate ice, suck life forces, run through things, etc… No, here he would not be weird.

"Dude needs a mutant name." Rob said through a mouthful of chicken. Clarice made a face at him and flicked a piece of chewed up food from her face.

"Gross."

"I was thinking more along the lines of 'Invisible Man'." Rob said, grinning cheekily. Clarice glared, and then blinked. Rob promptly disappeared. Kevin looked alarmed, but Jamie shook his head assuringly. Just then, Rob came running back into the room.

"Sorry, jeez." Rob huffed as he sat back down, his sneakers squishing and squeaking on the polished floor. "You didn't have to land me inside the toilet again."

"What's your mutant name?" Kevin asked Mr. Wagner, who was nibbling on his salad.

"I told you!" He smiled widely. "In – "

" – the Munich circus he was known as the Amazing Nightcrawler." His table finished for him. They laughed and Kevin smiled. Did everybody know this?

"How bout The Invisinator?" Sam suggested. That was shot down quickly, after they convinced him that Kevin could not "invisinate" people.

"How about Invis – " Clarice began, but Rob unintentionally spit a chicken piece at her again. "Ohhhh, ew!"

"Inviso!" Jamie declared. The table nodded its agreement.

"We hereby dub thee, Inviso!" Rob said.

And so it was.


End file.
